It's the End of the World

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. “They” are wrong though. You can hear a scream if you listen closely enough. You can hear them as they float through the cosmos, and eventually reverberate to your eardrums like a cloud of anguish. A slight tremor of cosmic proportions. There’s only one problem though: no one believes me

It started with just a whisper. A voice so soft that you might miss it if you aren’t paying attention. And I wasn’t paying attention at first. I was enjoying my hour long commute into the city and enjoying some hard rock on 103.4 (The Viper). There is nothing quite as soothing as blistering guitar riffs and boisterous screams to put my mind at ease. However, something was off. My hard rock was not rocking quite as hard this morning. It was almost as if the bands were doing an underwater show, broadcasting exclusively from the ocean. The guitar tones seemed muted, and the vocals were lifeless. This is when I first heard “it”. The voice was quiet, but unmistakable.

“The world is ending in 30 days”

You have to understand that I’m not crazy. I didn’t believe it either at first. I simply chalked it up to the “Monday blues” (coupled with the weekend substance), and subsequently endured the monotony of talk radio for the rest of my commute. The rest of my day was normal. However, the whispery rasp of the morning still inhabited a small pocket of my mind.

There is a bit of a misconception about celestial life. The movies get it all wrong. “Aliens” are quite a bit like us. In fact, you could almost say that they are *us* from a different dimension. Let me put it this way, the “green monster” archetype couldn’t be further from the truth. They have a perfect grasp of the english language, and can assimilate flawlessly in conversations with humans. This is essential for their ultimate game plan: assimilation AND domination. It’s only a matter of time. The clock is ticking….

“The world is ending in 25 days”

The ominous utterance this time wasn’t subtle. Once again, heavy metal gave way to a louder declaration from an unknown life force. My initial concern from the initial incident doubled, and unless I’m going crazy, it almost seems like the universe is trying to send me a message. However, just like the first message received, I foolishly disregarded the celestial signal and finished my morning commute as if nothing had happened. My arrogance shielded me from everlasting truth. Surely I’m just hearing things, surely this bizarre occurrence means nothing in the larger picture. Surely….

There is another misconception regarding aliens that the broader populace just doesn’t get. They will takeover this planet of ours, however, it won’t be in the fashion you’d expect. Forget the biblical definition of “revelation”. Forget fire and brimstone. The thousand foot tsunamis and the gargantuan tornadoes will have to wait. The eerie desolation of an empty and destroyed planet is simply just a figment of a “Hollywood Apocalypse”. Simply put, forget everything. These celestial invaders are too smart for something as brutal and short sided as an all out assault on humanity. Instead, just as I have mentioned previously, *assimilation* is the name of the game. There are already “aliens” on this planet. They could be friends, they could be strangers, hell, they could even be members of your own family. They are biding their time. Patiently analyzing the intricacies of human nature, and waiting for the right moment to implement a new world order. Not one borne out of violence though. One borne out of manipulation and assimilation. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you when that day comes.

“The world is ending in 15 days”

What’s the saying? Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times and I’m going to lose my mind. This is now the third “proclamation” from the station. And although this message came a little later than the others, this one was definitely the scariest. The initial mysterious whisper has now morphed into a raspy yell. A yell with conviction, a yell that makes the back of your spine tingle, a yell that you know with every fiber of your being is a sign from the universe, that kind of yell. I’m done playing games. It’s time for action. Work has no place in lieu of apocalyptic foreshadowing. So I decide to turn the car around and head back to my apartment for the day. The voice, and more importantly, the apocalyptic proclamation, now encompasses my entire life.

To be honest, there has been a little excitement over these ominous proclamations. Yes, impending doom and global domination at the hands of an extraterrestrial force can put a damper on the senses for awhile. However, there is also some exhilaration involved as well. Adrenaline can course through the veins when you know something that the rest of the world doesn’t. Especially when that *something* happens to be knowledge of the world’s demise. It should also be mentioned that I haven’t told many people of my cosmic discovery. I don’t have many friends to begin with and the acquaintances that I am close with would never take a claim like that seriously. The only living soul that I have told is my mother. Not only does she not believe me, but she thinks I need to seek psychiatric help. She says I should probably hop back on my medication. That’s just not going to happen. Oh well, we will see who the crazy one is soon…

“THE WORLD IS ENDING IN 10 DAYS!!!”

The scream shatters the glass plates sitting on my kitchen counter. The words no longer emanate from the car radio, rather, they come from my satellite radio inside my home. The words are the precise reason I haven’t left my apartment for 5 days. The words bring a strange mixture of fear and vindication. Fear, in the sense, that the pattern has repeated itself and the apocalyptic prediction has returned with a boisterous vengeance like never before. But also, vindication, in the sense, that the prediction has repeated just in the fashion as before. Albeit louder and more powerful. I’m not crazy, the voice from the radio is not a figment of my imagination. It’s a message. The preparations must begin. 10 days is practically no time at all to prepare for armageddon.

It’s funny how self perception changes when put into proportion with an alien takeover. My entire life I have been cripplingly self conscious of outside perceptions of my being. You could describe me as an outcast, but its honestly worse than that. Someone who is socially ostracized for being “different” is at least, for better or for worse, staying true to their identity. For years I would manufacture an “identity” based solely on other people’s self perception of who I was. Like a leaf blowing in the howling wind, my inner being was fickle. The omnipotence of extraterrestrial intelligence changes things. I can live out these last 10 days in complete ambivalence. The minor grievances of human interaction juxtaposed with the world’s end is jarringly funny to me.

“The world is ending in five days”

Being sheltered in my apartment for over a week has given way to being sheltered in my bedroom. The satellite radio still persists, and the programmed proclamation is still felt from my chamber. The screams of five days ago are replaced by something more reminiscent of the initial voice, the judgment day prediction is still voiced nonetheless. A strange numbness is bestowed upon me. A numbness that is strangely funny. The end is really coming….

……

It’s been five days since I heard the voice. In other words: Judgment Day. I really need to come clean about something too. I haven’t been entirely honest with you. When it comes to knowing how the world will end, my “assimilation and domination” scheme was just a theory. The voice in the radio never really gave any depth to their proclamation. Just repeating the basic premise of the world’s demise every 5 days for the past month. In all honesty, I have no idea how the world will end. The end is finally here though. Strap in, it’s going to be a wild ride.

For posterity’s sake, and because I have no earthly clue what to do, I’m going to go for a drive. If I’m going to watch the world burn, might as well have a good view. I get in my car and drive. I’m hesitant to turn on the radio, but my morbid curiosity gets the best of me. I turn the dial to 103.4 and brace myself for any indication of armageddon.

Strangely enough, I’ve been driving for over an hour and the “voice” is absent. A bizarre anger boils up in me. It’s not that I “want” the world to end, it’s the notion of my sanity. I’m not crazy. Everyone thinks I’m crazy, but I know what I heard. The voice is real….

Just as I’m about to lose my sanity completely, I notice a peculiar sound. I hear drums reminiscent of a marching band. Lost in my own thoughts, I had completely blocked out the music on the radio. The dial has miraculously tuned itself to 101.3 (Revolution Radio). Michael Stipe makes his presence known in a hilarious twist of fate.

“That’s great, it starts with an earthquake. Birds and snakes, an aero plane…..”

The aliens have a twisted sense of humor.